February 2012 Patch Tuesday to handle 21 vulnerabilities

By Stephanie Wright, Contributor

Microsoft is planning to release nine bulletins, addressing 21 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, .NET framework and Silverlight. The patches are scheduled to be released Feb. 14.

The software giant said in its Advanced Notification today that four of the bulletins are listed as “critical,” and 3 of these, all of which affect Windows, would require a restart. The critical bulletins address errors in Windows, Internet Explorer and server-side software. All of them are said to deal with vulnerabilities that will allow remote code execution.

The remaining five bulletins are listed as “important” and cope with both remote code execution and elevation of privileges. They apply to Microsoft Widows, Office and Server Software. Just one of these would require a restart, while the alternative four may require a restart.

The February Advanced Notification also stated that the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool could be updated on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Download Center.

Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Security Response Communications Manager, Angela Gunn, said information about risk, impact analysis, deployment guidance and a video overview of the discharge would be available on their blog Tuesday.

In January, Microsoft released 7 bulletins, with just one listed as “critical.” They addressed problems in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft developer tools.

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